MSNBC, just to put itself on the record as "consistent," has suspended Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough for the same reason it suspended Keith Olbermann: Political donations without advance approval. Interestingly, Politico, where Scarborough writes a column, instigated the suspension.

MSNBC has suspended Keith Olbermann "indefinitely without pay" in response to this…
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When Keith Olbermann was suspended a couple of weeks ago, the Internet very quickly pointed out to MSNBC bosses that Joe Scarborough also made his share of political donations, so why wasn't he suspended too? Their excuse at the time was that Scarborough had gotten advance approval.

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But apparently Politico had unearthed a new batch of donations and called him for comment, after which Scarborough revealed more and turned himself in:

"I recognize that I have a responsibility to honor the guidelines and conditions of my employment, and I regret that I failed to do so in this matter," Scarborough said in a statement. "I apologize to MSNBC and to anyone who has been negatively affected by my actions," he said, adding that after he was made aware of some of the contributions, he called MSNBC president Phil Griffin "and agreed with Phil's immediate demand of a two-day suspension without pay."

POLITICO had sought comment from the network after finding evidence that Scarborough gave at least five previously unknown $500 contributions while serving as an MNBC host – all to Republican candidates to whom he was close who were running for state legislative seats in or near Scarborough's hometown of Pensacola, Fla. After being contacted by POLITICO about the donations, Scarborough voluntarily disclosed three other $500 contributions to a friend running for county office in Florida.

Scarborough was hired recently to be one of Politico's two weekly columnists, so we look forward to next week's entry, "I Thought You Guys Were My Friends."